TAMPA – For Ravens’ punt and kick returner Jermaine Lewis, last night’s 34-7 Super Bowl victory represented closure on the most difficult chapter of his life.

Early last month, Lewis lost a son named Geromino, who was stillborn. Two weeks later, in one of the most emotional moments imaginable, Lewis returned two punts for touchdowns against the Jets in the regular-season finale.

Last night, it got even better, as he took an 84-yard kickoff return to the house and put closure on the game, officially breaking the Giants’ will.

Lewis had just watched Ron Dixon bring the Giants back into the game with a kickoff return for a touchdown, cutting the Baltimore lead to 17-7, and he thought, “Now it’s my turn.”

“I was like, ‘Oh, wow, he got a touchdown,’ ” Lewis said. “So I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to get one or at least give us a big return. Once I got into the hole, Ijust focused on finishing it.”

When Lewis finished the return – the seventh return for a TD in his career – Lewis pointed to the sky for his son.

“I just kind of wanted to put everything in closure and move on,” he said. “I know that he [Geronimo] was looking out for me.”

Lewis’ return took everything out of the Giants, who had a glimmer of hope at 17-7 and suddenly found themselves down 24-7 after the Lewis return.

“I really thought it was over after that one,” Lewis said. “They needed all they could just to score one touchdown, and for us to put a dagger in them right away just really put it away.

“I was confident that I was going to score today. I just knew all I had to do was keep my feet and I would score.”

What made Lewis’ play even more amazing was that it was his first kickoff return for a touchdown. He hadn’t returned a kickoff all year, but volunteered to do it in the postseason.